SPORTS DO NOT BUILD CHARACTER. THEY REVEAL IT.

 

Granddaughter Samantha. Photo by Chris 2010.

"Mom, it's only Tee-Ball."  Samantha let her mom know she didn't have to worry.  Her brother, Andrew, was involved with more professional ball, but that didn't mean her mom had to get stressed about her game.

Today most of children's sports are organized.  Many children drop out by age 11.  Maybe this is because our society has gone from teaching sportsmanship to encouraging wins at any cost.  Ted Kuck,  a 2008 Michigan Notable Book Award winner for his football memoir, Paper Tiger: One Athlete’s Journey to the Underbelly of Pro Football, says this--"The point was that like many other things in our culture, competition has grown increasingly acrimonious and joyless and broken over the last couple of decades. Blame social media or trash talking or legalized gambling or the lack of scarcity or youth sports insanity or the politicization of sports—all of which are real and bad—but sports are just less fun and more regularly blown out of proportion than they used to be."  This statement rings true.

Granddaughter Natalie. Photo by Chris 20017.

It's fun to win but at what cost? Everyone likes to win.  I didn't participate in sports in school though. I didn't enjoy competition.  Even though I ended up majoring in P.E. in college I took all individual sports.  Many kids like to play on sports teams but not with stress and anxiety.  Maybe we need to go back to fewer organized sports. 

In the Christian life the Bible tells us in I Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." Matthew 10:16 says “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." 

We must run the race to win but also to be clever. This is speaking of our spiritual lives of course but we can also apply it to competition. I loved it when we played co-ed frisbee football.  Chris was a master at strategy.  We won the games. 

My prayer is that churches will start family ball teams to compete in friendly ways.  Our church invites the neighbor kids to play in our wonderful gym on Wednesday nights in the hope that they will stay for youth groups after. 

For more information about kids and schools check out this .

I like things when they are not perfect because that means there is less pressure on me.  My question is--  when is it important to be competitive and  perfectionistic? Are some people met to excel and others to just stay middle of the road? What do you think?

I Corinthians 12:4-6 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.